largest city, seemed to house a bank; there
was in the Ticino one branch for every 1,000
people, more than anywhere else in Swit
zerland. Italians had triggered the boom:
Fearful of government changes and tax col
lectors, they had long crossed the border
with suitcases of money for deposit in safe
Swiss banks. The Ticino sprouted more and
more banks to accommodate them. In time
the banks grew, entered the international
banking system. Then New York, British,
Japanese banks rented offices next door.
There had been an invasion of tourists
too, German speakers from across the Alps
in Switzerland and from West Germany.
They relished the beauty of the mountains
and lakes, the air, the melody of the lan
guage, the red-tiled roofs; the roses, palm
trees, oleander. Condominiums had been
built to accommodate them, retirees too.
It was high on a remote mountainside, lit
tered with abandoned stone farmhouses,
that I encountered Francesco Mara, goat
herd. He was 25, slender, had dark hair, a
quick grin. He had 60 goats, made cheese
from the milk, sold it in the valley.
He invited me into one of those old farm
houses, pausing to milk a goat. He placed
the still warm milk, clear tasting, on the ta
ble, along with his own cheese, olive oil,
pepper, and bread.
"It's not so easy to stay up here five
months," he said. "I usually come up at the
beginning of April and stay until the end of
August. I work from a quarter to five in the
morning until nine in the evening. It's a long
day." But he was contento-made enough
money to live, without being rich.
As for a madonna:"I had once a woman. I
came up with her, and after some weeks she
left, desperate. She said to me, 'You are cra
zy to stay here.' And so I lost her. But from
time to time some girls come up here in the
summer. They are attracted by the simple
way of life, but they never stay for long."
What a free man, I mused, what a free
life. But then he described a problem.
"From time to time I have military service to
do, and now they have called me for June.
But I cannot leave in June; I must stay here
with my goats. I can do my military service
only in winter." His brow knitted: "I must
write the authorities, explain."
The long arm of the Swiss Army, the
Swiss defense system, reached into the most
remote valleys; and also, I was about to
learn, deep under even the nicest of towns.
TEFFISBURG has a population of
13,000, is close by Lake Thun, has a
fine view of the Stockhorn peak
to the south. At noon it seemed a city
of children: streams of schoolchildren head
ing noisily home for lunch, preschoolers on
swings and seesaws, perambulators with
their precious cargoes. But I was whisked
quickly underground by my host, Fritz
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